I packed my bags last night... pre flight

I wrote this in the terminal in Atlanta:

I just reset the clock on my computer to GMT -3 hrs…. Recife.

Waiting for boarding in Atlanta, I’m experiencing a feeling that’s not unfamiliar. It’s the feeling any racer with something to prove gets in the few seconds between “set” and “go.” When I race that feeling disappears the second the gun is fired and instinct takes over for awhile. Questions on my mind include: When will this feeling disappear (it always has before)? When that feeling disappears, will I react as if governed sympathetically, in the interest of survival (like the beginning of a race, no thought, just action)?

My Portuguese is less that suitable for traveling in Brazil. I know no one in the city where I am going to stay. I have a handful of phone numbers of people that should be helpful, but I will have to navigate an airport and public transportation long before I get to ask for their help.

I’m very excited, but not because of the beaches and the dancing and the wild sex that I’m sure to experience over the next 6 months. I’m excited because I know there is a mountain of problems ahead of me. Each one with a number of solutions, few that will be easy to solve. My psychology professor mentioned that it’s been proven that some people feed off of stress, I’m about to find out for sure if I’m one of those people. I’m excited about the overcoming these hardships, knowing that I will benefit in the long run. It seems like Brazil is a Viking blacksmith named Hector that’s about to temper the ever living shit out of me. I’m going to survive, and it’s going to be for the better… I have a hunch that a life shaping experience is beginning at this moment and that’s a good feeling.

My plane is pulling up to the gate. I need to run to Arby’s… because I don’t know if I can get a Big Montana in Brazil.

Thanks, mom and dad… for paying for another semester of school. Thanks Dr. Bowders for the opportunity.

So I've been here for 6 days now. It's not really difficult (in fact I'd almost say it's easy). The hardest thing so far has been arranging housing. That was only hard because I was being picky about being in a certain part of town. The pre-flight jitters went away the second I got on the plane in atlanta. It has nott been a constant adrenaline rush... but it has been a slow drip. I've been sleeping more than normal and I think it's due to the extra mental work I'm having to do to adjust to a new language... and because most of my downtime is spent studying portguese. I took some down time today and watche Star wars (eps. 3) with the sound turned down and with portugues subtitles. That was fun. I now know that "lado negro" is dark side in portugues.

All those numbers I have... haven't used them. The process has been very simple:
-Identify the most pressing problem
-Learn the vocabulary to deal with that problem
-Solve it.
-Repeat.
This system, in conjunction with a lot of patience and the ability to laugh at how retarded I must appear (I'm used to that) is all I think I will need to survive here.

One huge benefit to not speaking the language is that you must fully think out everything before you do it. This has made my life much easier. I still feel as though this experience will be life changing... but now for a different reason. When I arrived, I had the speech ability, and cultural knowldege comparable to a 2 year old. Today, I'm about 4 years old linguistically. Basically I get to grow up in Brazil by learning a language and culture. What makes this notable is that I get to analyze these experiences as an adult.

Tommorrow my portugues class starts at the university. and it's 12:30 here so I should get to bed. Boa noite.

-Other notes... Amy Szczepanik is getting married June 2. Kelly Fanning is getting married this summer... and even bolton is gettting married! I need to start saving up for a japanese woman.